National Half Marathon: Mission Accomplished

...1:38:42 :)

After spending the first three months of the year training for the National Marathon, focusing on lots of miles and fine-tuning my marathon pace, my confidence was a bit shaky going into this race. I had done a few tempo runs at a fine speed, done some treadmill speedwork, but I had no clue how my body would react to racing a half marathon. I put my goal time out there with my coaches, they were honest with their feedback, and we developed a race plan. Start at 7:50 pace and increase the speed every two miles. This would put me very close to sub 1:40, but would most likely give me a PR (1:44).

After a hellish bus trip to DC on Friday (Lincoln Tunnel closed = 6+ hour nightmare), my boy picked me up and we headed straight to the expo, had a good Italian dinner, and got ready for the 5am alarm. My anal tendencies got us a front row parking space at 5:50 for a 7am race start. We hung around the start for awhile and I lined up Corral 3. This put me across the about 1:15 after the official race start. I ate a peanut butter bagel early, a banana on the way, and then sipped 1 scoop of CarboPro (with grape flavor sugar-free mix mmm) as I waited for the start.

Long story short: First mile was really crowded and came on at 7:55. It felt painfully slow, but I was happy that I had followed coach's plan for the first mile. I picked up the pace as the crowd opened up a bit, looked at my Garmin, and was running sub-7. I felt great, debated for about a half second, and decided to just go for it. I ran slightly out of my comfort zone, worked the downhills, and the miles flew by. I felt like I blinked and was climbing the biggest hill of the course right around 10k. I started to feel the effort about Mile 11, but tried to tuck in behind some people I had been running around and get to the finish. I didn't have my cumulative time on my watch, but knew I had been running right around 7:30s and was very confident I was going to be sub-1:40.

Turned the final corner and saw that I was going to cross right at 1:40 clock time. Which put my official time at 1:38:42. I had held a consistent pace and HR and felt strong to the finish. My mile splits (range from 7:08 to 7:49) reveal the course was much more 'rolling' than I expected, but training in Central Park was perfect practice. I was overjoyed when I finished, and my boyfriend promptly told me I had way to much energy left and hadn't run the finish chute nearly fast enough :) That's my boy ha.

I really loved this race. I got to run on iconic DC roads and neighborhoods (under Dupont Circle, through Adams Morgan, straight down North Capitol with the Capitol building straight ahead) and I think the course was more than fair. I do have a few gripes (only mile marker/clock was at Mile 10, no warning of upcoming aid stations), but that may come from being spoiled at NYRR races.

Due to work this year, I don't have too many races on the schedule, so I really want to make each one count. I am so happy to have put this race together, trust my training and fitness, and really allowed myself to go for it. I think the mental lessons I learned racing last year have really come through in my races this year (be confident!!) and I can't wait for South Beach in two weeks !!